In meat processing plants the strictest sanitary conditions are required, and overhead conveyor rails on which the animal carcasses and meat products are moved through the plant must be maintained clean and sanitary at all times. Originally, this was done by hand and recently automatic rail cleaners have been proposed, the most pertinent of which, to our knowledge, is that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,779.
Certain difficulties were present in the construction of said patent; for example, the vertical adjustment of the brushes on splined shafts required more clearance above the rail than is normally available in meat processing plants, the supporting wheels did not float properly to accommodate unevenness and curvature of the rails, the movement of the carriage was not smooth and positive in both directions as only one supporting wheel was driven, and the location of a photocell and its light source for controlling the vertical adjustment of the brushes did not closely follow the path of the conveyor rail on a curve.